Sunday, September 2, 2012

J’ai voté Québec Solidaire, but why?

Mohamed
Kamel*

September
1st, 2012

When
Jean Charest called for election, Quebecers wondered if he was going back to
office or not? And most of us started to question if we were going to vote and
if yes, to whom? Are we waking up on September 5th to a minority or
a majority government?

We
entered this election with one question.
Are we ready to accept Charest’s bill 78 that for the first time in
Canada, curbs people’s rights, curbing on freedom of speech while raising
tuition fees and introducing his conservative views? Charest governed for 9 years, shaded with
corruption that involved many figures and he is not clean from it yet. He
called the election to avoid negotiating with the students after issuing his
undemocratic bill. For me when a party fails to listen to the new generation
and their logic, they wrote their own death certificate.

On
the other hand, there is Pauline Marois who has been trying to lead the Parti
Québécois (PQ) for years, only succeeding once the party failed in all attempts
to gain power. Marois is the leader of
the opposition who shyly supported the student movement in refusing the tuition
increase and opposing bill 78.

We
imagined that she could govern, until she returned to the stone age and started
fighting the windmills by not recognizing today’s society. Marois is still dreaming of creating a
confrontation between the old and the new Quebec, so she can win a separation
referendum. She is re-introducing her party’s vision of a pure white catholic
society that pretends to be secular just as a tool to refuse the others. At the same time, she helped in shifting the
party’s policy far from the left, disconnected the movement from the labour
movement.

By
refusing to accept the others and living in the past through her hard secular
dream, Marois wrote her own political death.

Even
her own team fragmented into two other parties, Option Nationale (ON) a new
small party supported by one of PQ’s old guard, Jacques Parizeau, and Coalition
Avenir Québec (CAQ).

Competing
with both the Liberal party and the PQ came the new political party, Coalition
Avenir Québec (CAQ). When François
Legault exited from the PQ, he formed his new movement representing the far
right capitalizing on the remains of Action démocratique Québec (ADQ), a party
that was born and died in less than 18 years.
CAQ, similarly to the ADQ, is a soft sovereign movement. CAQ supported the Liberal in passing bill 78
and is calling for abolishing school boards, which will minimize the
participation and the role of taxpayers and parents in managing the education
system. Another party that I can’t
support!

Not
being able to vote for any of these parties brought me back to the basics of
democracy. Why are we voting
strategically? Why don’t we go back to the principals and vote for what we
believe in?

I
prefer a minority government because it is the only way to allow people’s voice
to be heard. When a majority governs,
they became a sort of dictatorship. They
don’t fear people and don’t bother with people’s needs or their point of
view. They only serve their own close
circle of beneficiaries, and that is proven by the corruption that has shaded
our life for a while.

Some
might vote for one of these parties based on one issue to avoid the
others. Some might vote against
referendum, others might vote against Marois’ citizen chart and some might vote
against bill 78 or the corruption.

I
am sure that Quebecers are not looking for these votes. Our children deserve better than that. We
should come back to the principles. We need a strong party that can raise our
concerns and represent the general population.
Québec Solidaire (QS), as small as it is, is co-lead by Françoise David
and Amir Khadir, both long time activists for people’s rights and community
development, believe in a soft secularity of the state that creates a state
without a religion but maintains and respects people’s right in practicing
their own believes.

I
voted for QS because they support all people’s rights, because their political
stand is my political stand.

Are
they going to govern? Most properly not now, but maybe some time soon. If this
vote didn’t help QS to govern, it will help us magnifying the need to apply the
proportional representation.

One
day, we will be able to achieve our goal in recognizing the proportional
representation, a basic democratic principal that big parties are afraid of
applying, because it will bring power back to the people instead of
corporations.

* Mohamed S. Kamel: is a Freelance writer, he is a professional
engineer, a LEED Green Associate and a recognized project manager professional,
he is Member of several civil society organizations, a co-founder of the Alternative
Perspective Media (APM-RAM), , Quebec Antiwar movement “Échec à la Guerre”, Canadian
Egyptian for Democracy (CEFD), National Association for Change in Egypt
(Taghyeer – Canada), Association of the Egyptians of Montreal (AEM). He could
be reached at public@mohamedkamel.com

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About Me

*Mohamed S. Kamel: is a Freelance writer, the editor of http://forafreeegypt.blogspot.com/, he is a professional engineer, a LEED Green Associate and a recognized project manager professional (PMP), he is Member of several civil society organizations, a co-founder, ex-Secretary General of The Egyptian Revolutionary Council (ERC), a co-founder of the Egyptian Canadian Coalition for Democracy (ECCD-CECD), Egyptian Worldwide for Democracy and Justice (EW4DJ), Canadian Egyptian for Democracy (CEFD), National Association for Change in Egypt (Taghyeer – Canada), Alternative Perspective Media (APM-RAM), , Quebec Antiwar movement “Échec à la Guerre”, Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine “CJPP”, ex-president and co-founder of the Canadian Muslim Forum (CMF-FCM), member of the board of trustee in the Canadian Muslim for Palestine (CMP) and Cultural Center for Montreal Muslims (CCMM). He could be reached at public@mohamedkamel.com and followed at @mskamel